At Urban Indian Kitchen, host Irum Ashraf delivers authentic flavours in a friendly
atmosphere. And she makes sure that there is something special for everyone on the
guest list. By Umer Nangiana
You sit among a group of expatriates, no matter what nationality, and pick up a topic on food. Suddenly, you would start hearing voices telling you how much they miss home-cooked food. In a place like Doha, despite having a number of cuisines available at hand, it always comes to craving for authentic food rooted in a certain cultural heritage.
And there is one place in Doha that offers you a chance to avail all that and more. It is Urban Indian Kitchen by Irum Ashraf where you meet strangers and make new friends with them while enjoying your favourite food in an informal environment.
You just need to tell Irum your choice of food and make it to her place on time; she takes care of the rest. A culinary expert in multiple cuisines, Irum has a passion of cooking and food and she has decided to do it the traditional way with Supper Club at her Urban Indian Kitchen.
So what is a Supper Club?
“I decide a theme and the day and circulate it out through my mailing list, Facebook and other such platforms. So people would message or e-mail me and they book for themselves or friends or family. I send them confirmation and, closer to the date, location along with some house rules,” replied Irum while talking to Community about the idea of the club.
The reason why a theme is set is to make people have different food every time and to keep a suspense for the next time so that they can come back again. It’s been six months and Irum said she had a fantastic response from people in Doha. She was thinking to make it twice a month from once a month thing.
Born to Punjabi parents, Irum has themed the club on her Punjabi heritage besides serving street food, snacks …, the next is going to be a brunch. “The breakfast and lunch in my home, which was a Pakistani home, was huge,” said Irum.
“Some of the dishes that you will eat for breakfast, you will never eat for the evening meal. They are all just breakfast dishes,” she added about the upcoming theme idea.
Besides having 200 people on the mailing list and over 2,000 followers on Facebook, she circulates the theme to people. For QR250 per person, you can eat all different types of food that you like with starters and desserts and make new friends at the same place.
She has certain rules that people have to follow which include arriving on time because the starters can be kept warm for only so long. Irum also makes sure that there is something for everyone if there are vegetarians on the guest list.
How did you come up with the idea of Indian Urban Kitchen?
“It was born from the idea that I wanted to start a restaurant here but there is so much of red tape that it was not easy for me to do it,” said Irum. “I started my job here in a large government organisation but I left my job after three years and wanted to go into food industry and do something like an outdoor catering to offices,” she added.
Her colleagues advised her to start on a small scale where she starts cooking her own food. “I have a passion for food. I was born and bred in UK but I lived in Pakistan for a while and picked up a lot of culinary skills from there and then I decided to do something here which was going to be something much more an intimate thing,” said Irum.
“I was comfortable dealing with numbers and it was something that I think the community needed. So I initially started as a concept which was offering cooking classes and at-home personal chef services.”
He personal chef services work in a way that if you have six people invited and you want someone to cook for you, Irum would go through the menu with the host and decide it. “I basically pack the car up and take everything to your house and cook for you so I am in the kitchen cooking while you are entertaining your guests,” she said.
“Going to people’s home and giving chef services is unique because they do not have to worry about anything. The only thing they need to worry about is to decide what they want to eat. Once they know what they want to eat, I do everything else for them from shopping to cleaning the kitchen in the end,” said Irum.
She was not operating under any name or brand before but once she decided on the idea of a supper club, the whole three aspects of the business brought together made Urban Indian Kitchen. The third was cooking classes.
Irum holds these classes at her home in The Pearl Qatar which she promises is a lovely place. “What I am doing is I am not just saying this is what you will learn. I am actually saying what is that you want to learn that suits your lifestyle.”
Learning cooking more from her father than her mother, Irum said she had never been a big fan of Pakistani or Indian food but loved Thai. “But over the last couple of years I have found my comfort zone which is cooking Pakistani and Indian food,” she added.
“I would try to cook Indian food and people think it is the same thing while it is not. It is a completely different thing. Pakistani food would have five spices that we use for instance, Indian food would use 25 spices. And the combinations are completely different,” said Irum, adding that generally people identify more with Indian as the food of the subcontinent.
At the Urban Indian Kitchen’s Supper Club, Irum says it is all about being comfortable. There are so many anomalies when you go to her Supper Club. “First of all you do not know me and the people sitting next to you on the dinning table. All are strangers. But I am a big believer of you having your own comforts,” said Irum.
She said the idea was based close to Pakistani and Indian culture where all are welcome and you never leave empty-handed. They make sure that guests leave happy and stuffed. The next Supper Club theme is a brunch taking place on Saturday, August 16, 1pm onwards. Irum can be contacted at irum@urbanindiankitchen.com for bookings.